Friends Like These
by Too Much Talker
Summary: [MAJOR SPOILER FOR 1010!] A small piece full of blahblahness in Chandler's POV. Written out of pure boredom. Please RR!


Sooo...a new fic. Yeah. I've decided to delete all my previous stories [except maybe my stand-alones] because I think they're missing...something. I don't know what though. Maybe I'll rewrite them, take some of the suggestions into consideration and stuff like that. Yeah. I have sooo many stories under 'construction', cause in the middle of one, another idea comes to mind. Yeah. Some things to look forward to [if I decide not to delete them when I'm done]  
  
-two C/M sappy fics  
  
-a coupla group stand alones  
  
-a group-couple fic very loosely based on a Hindi [Indian] movie  
  
...yeah. Did any of you count how many 'yeah's I used?...yeah.  
  
Disclaimer: Still, none of them belong to me. And I wanted them for my birthday!!! [frowns at her parents] Thanks a lot.  
  
"Yeah. So don't move, okay? Just stay here and...maybe close your blinds at night," Rachel suggested.  
  
I smiled and nodded with Monica. We sat staring at one another for a few seconds when the phone began to ring. I got up and picked up the phone.  
  
"Hello?" I listened. "It's Nancy, they responded to our offer!" I told them excitedly.  
  
Monica got up quickly and walked over. "And?" she asked.  
  
"You get the house, Mr Bing," Nancy told me.  
  
We got the house. I turned around to hide my wide grin. We got it. I couldn't wait to tell everyone!  
  
Or could I? I remembered all of the other four's disappointed faces. Yeah, I definitely could wait.  
  
"Uh...okay, thanks," I said, trying to sound solemn. I put the phone back down.  
  
Monica looked at me eagerly. I shook my head. 'Don't smile! Don't smile! Bite your tongue, that always wor - ouch.' I winced. 'Don't bite your tongue! Don't bite your tongue!'  
  
"We passed. They won't go a penny under the asking price."  
  
"But we can't afford that!" she said.  
  
"I know..."  
  
"Well, there you go," Monica told the others sadly.  
  
"Come 'ere," I whispered so that only she could hear me and hugged her tightly.  
  
"I'm really sorry, you guys," Joey said.  
  
"Yeah. I'm sorry too," Ross said. He paused and sheepishly added, "I'm even more sorry that that phone call didn't come before I told you about looking through the window."  
  
I chuckled.  
  
"Yeah, we're gonna let you be alone," Rachel said, hugging Monica before leaving.  
  
"You gonna be okay?" Phoebe asked. I nodded as did Monica. "Yeah, we'll be okay," she replied. Phoebe smiled and came up close to me. She hugged me. "Congratulations," she whispered softly. I grinned. Maybe she really is psychic after all.  
  
"Love you guys," Ross kissed Monica on the cheek and left with Phoebe. Joey stayed there.  
  
"You know, I'm really sorry I wasn't more supportive before," he said.  
  
"That's okay, we understand," I nodded knowingly.  
  
"And about this Nancy thing... If you're not sleeping with her, should I?"  
  
I laughed and took out the card from my pocket. He grabbed it eagerly, looked at it proudly and left hurriedly.  
  
Monica was standing near the sink. I walked over to her, pushing in the kitchen chairs. I knew her. She would surely do that if she wasn't so sad.  
  
She turned around as she heard me. "I know there'll be other houses, but it's just so..." she sighed, "I love that one so much."  
  
"Yeah..." I nodded. I began smiling. "Well it's a good thing we got it then."  
  
"What?" she asked, walking up to me.  
  
"We got the house," I cried, beaming.  
  
"Oh my God!!" she cried. She looked questioningly at me.  
  
"I just didn't wanna tell you in front of them," I explained.  
  
"Oh my God! My God! We've got the house!?" she practically bounced. I smiled as I noticed she was, like I'd said a year ago, chattering like a monkey.  
  
"We're getting the house!" I confirmed. We hugged, something I realised we did a lot lately. We broke apart and looked at each other for sometime. I held her hands. "We're getting the house," I repeated, unable to believe it.  
  
"And a baby," she continued.  
  
And then it hit me. "We're growing up," I said, amazement obvious on my face.  
  
She laughed. "We sure are," she said, squeezing my hands.  
  
It was then that I realised...Ross, Rachel, Joey and Phoebe were not gonna be happy. "So who's gonna tell them?" I saw the mischievous glint in her eyes. I knew what she was going to do.  
  
"Not it!" I shouted. I heard Monica finish her sentence before I did and frowned. "Damn it!"  
  
I looked away and walked over to the couch. "I can't believe it," I said.  
  
"Believe what?" she asked. "That we're gonna spend the rest of our lives in that one house?"  
  
"Yeah..." I smiled.  
  
We sat quietly.  
  
"We're gonna live in the house for the rest of our lives," I said again.  
  
"Yuh-huh," she said.  
  
"We're gonna have children and grow old and have wrinkly teeth. And every evening, we're gonna sit on that beautiful balcony and watch the sun set," I said, a faraway look in my eyes.  
  
"I know. I can't wait," my wife said with a soft smile. She leaned in a brushed her lips against mine. "Can you?"  
  
"Nope," I said truthfully. "But I can't leave this place, either."  
  
She nodded understandingly and scanned the apartment. "Do you remember the things we did here?"  
  
I smiled, moments running through my head. Those were golden moments I can never, ever forget.  
  
I walked over to the window, Monica close behind me. We stared out into Ross's apartment, and, sure enough, there he was looking up at us. We waved. He grinned widely and waved back. We continued watching and suddenly noticed that Phoebe was standing there as well. Though confused, we waved to her. She smiled and waved back to us.  
  
We sat on the couch, trying to remember that in a few weeks from then, we wouldn't be able to look out the window and see someone we know and love.  
  
- = - = - = - = - = - = - = - FOUR HOURS LATER - = - = - = - = - = - = - = -  
  
"Zoofinkle is not a word!!! Monica exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at me. Phoebe was in peals of laughter. She had come over around half an hour ago to congratulate us properly, and I realised that she really was pyschic. After a couple of teary hugs, Phoebe decided to make us play Scrabble to get our minds off telling the others. It certainly did, of course.  
  
"Yes it is!" I protested. "It is a word to describe something man-made."  
  
Monica snorted. "Oh, ha ha. That's what you said about fanola and madooru."  
  
"So?" I asked. "See and look have the same meaning too!!"  
  
My wife stared at me a litle. "Yes! I caught you speechless!" I pumped my fists in the air. I saw her open her mouth and heard the creak of the arartment door opening. "Oh look, Joey, Ross and Rachel're coming. Let's ask them!"  
  
"Ask us what?" Ross asked. He pushed Emma, who was in a stroller, to a corner, far away from where the commotion was going on. "She's sleeping," he explained.  
  
"Are zoofinkle, fanola and madooru real words?" Monica beat me to the question.  
  
"Oh, yes," Joey nodded solemnly. "Didn't you know?"  
  
Phoebe nodded as well. "If Joey says they're words, I believe him," she said with a bright smile towards him. Joey beamed.  
  
"Those aren't words!!" Ross and Rachel said simultaneously. Monica grinned and high-fived the two of them and stuck out her tongue.  
  
"Those aren't words!" Ross said again, in a more of a know-it-all voice.  
  
"They could be words," I said.  
  
"Oh no...Mr Heckles is back from the other world!" Phoebe cried teasingly. Joey, however, took it the wrong way. His eyes widened.  
  
"Ah!" he screamed in a high-pitched voice and ran to hide behind the kitchen table.  
  
"Joe, she was kidding," Rachel said exasperatedly. The rest of us nodded.  
  
"Fine...but I'm staying here. Don't blame me if he murders one of you guys!!!"  
  
We burst into laughter. I was the one who stopped laughing first and I watched the others still laughing, and Joey looking confused. I couldn't remember the numerous times this had happened in our apartment.  
  
I sighed and turned away from everyone. Who knows when it would happen again? And if suddenly everyone began leaving the group, who would be to blame but Monica and I, for breaking the gang? For leaving the gang first?  
  
I forced a smile when Rachel asked me if I was okay, then slowly the smile began to become genuine as I remembered Rachel talking to Monica about buying a beautiful house just next door to the one that we bought. It seems Rachel and Ross were back together and were soon going to move in together. And Joey and Phoebe could get the house on the other side. I caught them kissing last evening. It wouldn't take them long to get married.  
  
My smile widened as it dawned on me...No one and nothing could ruin our friendship.  
  
'Friends like these,' I thought, watching the five of them start throwing pillows at Joey, who must've made a dirty comment, 'are definitely hard to find.'  
  
And I never thought I'd feel this way  
  
And as far as I'm concerned  
  
I'm glad I got the chance to say  
  
That I do believe I love you  
  
And if I should ever go away  
  
Well, then close your eyes and try  
  
To feel the way we do today,  
  
And then if you can remember,  
  
Keep smiling, keep shining,  
  
Knowing you can always count on me  
  
For sure  
  
That's what friends are for  
  
For good times and bad times  
  
I'll be on your side forever more.  
  
That's what friends are for  
  
I never thought I'd feel this way  
  
Well you came and opened me  
  
And now there's so much more I see  
  
And so, by the way, I thank you.  
  
And then for the times when we're apart  
  
Well, then close your eyes and know  
  
These words are coming from my heart  
  
And then if you can remember  
  
Keep smiling, keep shining  
  
Knowing you can always count on me  
  
For sure  
  
That's what friends are for  
  
In good times and bad times  
  
I'll be on your side forevermore  
  
That's what friends are for  
  
---That's What Friends Are For [Stevie Wonder, Dione Warwick] 


End file.
